Chief Transaction Support Officer, PINS1 at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/20/039
Location: Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Grade: PL3
Position N°: 50069783

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization is central to the Bank’s mission of developing the private sector, improving infrastructure and accelerating industrialization.
• The complex main functions are to (i) strengthen the enabling environment for private sector [and financial sector] development conducive to inclusive growth and sustainable development, (ii) support the development of reliable and sustainable infrastructure, including cities and urban development, and (iii) place renewed emphasis on industrial and trade performance in support of structural transformation across Africa.
• The Complex leverages knowledge, co-financing, and partnerships to attract private capital and work with governments on delivering the Bank’s development agenda.

The Hiring Department/Division:

• The role of the Bank’s NSO and Private Sector Support Department (PINS) is to promote private sector in Regional Members Countries (RMCs), ensuring that it plays a central role in laying the foundations in the development role of the Bank, in line with the Bank’s 10 Year Strategy and HI 5 initiatives.
• As part of the Private Sector Support Department, the Strategy and Transaction Support Division is responsible for preparing strategies, policies, guidelines, and analytical tools relevant to the private sector development; it also ensures global client management and undertakes specialized assignments for the Regions, providing ad hoc advice on transaction bankability, structuring, Project Modelling and designs and implements technical assistance for Private Sector operations.

The Position

• The Chief Transaction Support Officer is responsible for leading the Equity and Structuring Support Team that supports and advises Non-Sovereign Operations towards credit enhancement, transaction bankability, and financial sustainability.
• S/he is also responsible for (i) Developing structuring approaches in response to the Bank’s specific commercial and legal requirements, including market requirements of co-financiers where the Bank is acting as Mandated Lead Arranger and (ii) Supporting NSO sectors departments to evaluate equity project proposals, teasers, pitch books and financial models to assess their feasibility and readiness for investment by the Bank.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Division Manager, the Chief Transaction Support Officer will lead the Equity and Structuring Support Team and will perform the following duties:

Structuring:

• Lead and review structuring opinion drafts, present proposed solutions for investments under consideration, clarify the pros and cons of diverse structuring options;
• Coordinate, through written opinions, the drafting and review of finance and project documentation;
• Lead the review of legal and financial terms of potential investments and transactions, with a view of achieving the future secondary sale of assumed exposures to commercial investors, financiers and insurers;
• Coordinate structuring guidance to Investment Officers through active engagement in the presentation to clients/sponsors of financing proposals, negotiation of financing mandates, emphasizing the benefits of loan syndication and co-financing services.
• Develop review tools for transaction structuring in LICs and Fragile countries in particular.
• Act as focal points for the department on PPP related institutional activities.

Equity:

• Lead origination support on equity investment operations of private sector projects, primarily at origination level but also throughout the project cycle;
• Coordinate activities related to the selectivity and arbitration of Equity pipeline;
• Develop Knowledge basis and benchmarking on equity and Supervise asset class business intelligence gathering (market trends, benchmarking, etc.);
• Contribute to the preparation of guidelines and standard related equity investments.
• Review the process and procedures related to Bank’s equity operations;
• Assist the Equity Portfolio Management Team on an ad-hoc basis.

Selection Criteria

• A minimum of a Master's Degree or its university equivalent in Finance or Economics.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant professional experience in the Bank or a similar institution and/or in strategic consultancy, Business development, Private Equity Fund, Asset Management, transaction modeling and in structuring.
• Strong knowledge of equity valuation methods for sector-based investments.
• Strong Experience in investment appraisal, project finance, and/or corporate finance.
• Experience in direct equity investment and private equity funds appraisal.
• First-hand knowledge of financial instruments and techniques.
• Strong experience with Credit enhancement instruments, Private equity, and/or Risk capital is preferred.
• Sound knowledge of tailored products (such as guarantees) for sector-based investments.
• Experience with aggregation and pooling structures for investors.
• Ability to respond swiftly to new situations and to anticipate new issues.
• Proven ability to acquire new skills (particularly in legal, investment, Venture capital, Impact investing, technology and innovative sectors).
• Disciplined approach whilst maintaining creativity and lateral thinking for effective problem solving;
• Sense of initiative and innovation in proposing solutions to client needs.
• Ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills.
• Capacity to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of the Bank’s NSOs ecosystem.
• Solid negotiation skills, diplomacy and credibility to deal with clients at all levels.
• Ability to communicate effectively in written and oral in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).